Tales To Remember
There have been hundreds of amazing tales from 2011 demonstrating the resilience of blind patients and their families and the dedication and hard work of the hospital teams. But we have chosen three Tales to Remember from 2011.
From Orissa
 |
 |
 |
This is 18 month-old Raju.
Dr. Shiva’s TN team had travelled the huge distance from their base at Sambalpur into Malkangiri, an area in western Orissa in which police and Naxalite groups have been in confrontation for years.
Raju’s family brought him in to see Dr. Shiva. He had been born with cataract in both eyes. His grandmother had noticed that he was not seeing normally from the time the child was five months-old. But there was no eye surgeon, let alone a paediatric eye surgeon available at the local Government hospital. They could not afford to travel to a large city. The father, a daily labourer, was the only earner.
The TN team were unable to do the operation at Malkangiri as there was no anaesthetist available. (Small children require General Anaesthetic). So they organised and paid for the entire family to travel to the TN base-hospital in the town of Sambalpur. The person holding Raju in the picture is Itty Ojiha, the TN receptionist, patient counsellor and regular blogger.
From Bihar
This man with a skip in his step in spite of his crutches is Bhagelu Manjhi pictured with his son. He used to work pulling a plough in a farmer’s field. Then he went blind from bilateral cataract and lost his job. Father and son made their way, the last section by foot, to the Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital where Bhagelu’s sight was restored. Now the little boy is back in education and Dad has landed a job at the school!
 |
 |
Also from Bihar, a satisfying moment for this patient when he re-met Second Sight’s John Sandford Smith, the surgeon who restored his sight. Two years ago he walked into remote Bamdah Hospital and was examined by John. He could not see at all. But John’s huge experience allowed him to deduce that some sight could be regained in the left eye if the two corneas (the transparent surfaces of the eye) were swapped. The autologous corneal graft was carried out with no risk of rejection. A piece of cutting-edge ophthalmology in the heart of the Bihar jungle.